Caroline Brown gave herself the perfect boost ahead of July's Commonwealth Games when she became the first Scot to win the Women's World Cup Bowls Singles title by accounting for Guernsey's Alison Merrien MBE, twice a former winner, 7-7, 12-2.

After a gruelling nine days of competition in Warilla, New South Wales, Brown, who was recently named in Scotland's five-strong women's team to play at Kelvingrove in the summer, finished her tough section qualifier in second place, then in yesterday's title decider she chalked up her second successive straight-sets win. She dropped only seven ends on her way to the title in the 11-year-old event, run by World Bowls Limited, the sports' global governing body.

The Lanarkshire woman - she is from Motherwell but now lives in New Stevenson - slogged out a drawn first set in which Merrien was forced to play stunning conversion shots on the fifth and eighth ends to remain in contention, before her single on the last end earned her a draw.

In the second set, Merrien held a single at 4-1 down after three ends but Brown took out the holding shot to count a double and increase her lead with five ends remaining. Brown scored a further double and, although Merrien replied with a single, the Scot took charge with a single for 9-1, followed by a treble, which took her over the finishing line at 12-2 with an end to spare. It ended the six-year domination of the women's title by Merrien and Auckland's Jo Edwards, the holder and four-time winner.

An elated Brown said: "The final was always going to be tough. Alison has every shot in the book and is an experienced opponent. She plays in this event nearly every year; knowing the carpet is a bonus for her. I had been playing well all week and was determined to keep my focus.

"I took solace from the fact that, when you are in a tournament as big as this and you beat some of the best players in the world, particularly in my qualifying group section, you can't be doing much wrong."

Watching from the sidelines, Scotland's national head coach, David Gourlay, said: "Make no mistake about this, Caroline was playing the best players the Southern Hemisphere had to offer; there was no-one missing. World, Commonwealth and national champions, she played them all.

"It was a tough, tough section with Jo Edwards, who has won the title four times in the last five years, [and] Karen Murphy from Australia, who is the reigning World Singles and World Champion of Champions title-holder. She also beat Lina Ahmad, from Malaysia, who won back-to-back Commonwealth singles gold. That's quite a haul of scalps, and she won all these games in straight sets.

"What an achievement [to claim this title] at her first attempt. Most of the other players who were here will be representing their countries at the Games in Glasgow, so this was a real confidence booster for Caroline."

Gourlay anticipates that the line-up for the Scottish teams will be revealed in early June but, on her last few showings, Brown looks to have that singles berth well within her sights. There will be little time for Brown to draw breath when she returns home as she heads to Spain next Wednesday with the rest of the Scottish team as part of the continuing training process for the Games.

Jeremy Henry, the former Ireland internationalist who now resides in Warilla, took the men's title for a record third straight year, dropping only two ends in the first set to win 7-2 and, having trailed 7-4 with two ends to play in the second, scored a single, lengthened the jack and rolled in three shots to seal the title 8-7.